Known for its incredible adaptability, the leopard has the largest range of all the big cats. Despite this, it is likely the most persecuted large cat in the world.

The State of the Leopard

The leopard is likely the most persecuted large cat in the world. Extinct in 13 countries/regions and possibly extinct in seven more, leopards have vanished from at least two-thirds of their historic range in Africa and 84 percent of their historic range in Eurasia.

The species is threatened by illegal killing for their skins and other body parts used for ceremonial regalia, conflict with local people, rampant bushmeat poaching, and poorly managed trophy hunting.

Leopards are listed as "Vulnerable" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The leopard is classified as "Endangered" in Central Asia and Sri Lanka and "Critically Endangered" in the Middle East, Russia, and on the Indonesian island of Java.

"The leopard's beautiful skin is a primary reason it is the world's most persecuted big cat. And in my years of work to protect the leopards of southern Africa, I've realized the only way to stop the hunting of leopards for their skins is to address the problem head-on – with creativity and respect for local religion and culture." - Tristan Dickerson, Panthera Furs for Life Consultant

year

Primary Threat

Direct Killing

In southern Africa, as many as 800 leopards are killed each year for their furs. With fewer than 5,000 leopards remaining in South Africa alone, this illegal killing poses a significant threat to their survival.

Direct killing by humans poses a significant threat to leopards across their range. Leopards are killed for myriad reasons, including for their widely sought after skins, in retaliation for or to prevent the predation of livestock and game, and trophy hunting.

Leopards are often illegally killed for their iconic skins and other body parts, which are widely sought after for religious and ceremonial attire.

Poorly managed trophy hunting in East and Southern Africa is also contributing to, and in some instances directly driving, the decline in leopard populations.

Furthermore, leopards are frequently killed as a result of human-leopard conflict. Unlike other large carnivores, leopards frequently venture outside the borders of protected areas, increasing the likelihood that they will be killed in response to the real and perceived threat they pose to livestock.

Rampant bushmeat poaching is an additional, and rampant, threat facing the leopard. The bushmeat industry depletes leopard prey populations and poses a direct threat to leopards themselves when they are caught and killed in wire snares and traps set for other species.

Improve the status of leopard populations across at least 20% of their broad range

Project Pardus

Panthera’s Project Pardus is the first conservation strategy to span the leopard’s range and was developed in partnership with the IUCN Cat Specialist Group. In addition to leading the two most comprehensive long-term studies of leopards ever undertaken, Panthera has collaborated with authorities from several range states to rigorously track leopard population trends to identify populations in need of conservation attention, and to inform and evaluate effective management of the species. Depending on the population, Panthera’s strategy includes reducing human-leopard conflict, stabilizing and increasing prey, and reducing unsustainable legal trophy hunting.

The image and spirit of the leopard is an inspiration to millions around the world, including myself… I feel privileged to give back to a creature that depends for its future on what we do now to save it… and I urge the wider world to join Panthera and me in this mission.

The Arabian
Leopard Initiatives

Panthera and The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) have entered into an historic partnership to recover the critically endangered Arabian leopard and leopard populations around the globe. RCU has committed $US 20 million to leopard conservation in the AlUla region and around the world over the next decade.

This new partnership signifies RCU joining The Global Alliance for Wild Cats, an international coalition of the world’s leading environmental philanthropists who wish to preserve large-scale wildlife habitat and biodiversity by protecting the world’s wild cats.

Read More

The Birth of
"Beacons of Hope"

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) has announced the birth of twin Arabian leopard cubs – one male and one female – through a captive breeding program that aims to preserve, and eventually, reintroduce the cirtically endangered subspecies into the wild. This program is a key component of the Arabian Leopard Initiatives (ALI), including RCU’s newly formed leopard conservation collaboration with Panthera, to recover this little known desert-dwelling subspecies, and leopards around the globe.